


Hero (Finn Appreciation Week - Day 5)

by orphan_account



Series: Finn Appreciation Week 2018 [4]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-13
Updated: 2018-04-13
Packaged: 2019-04-19 06:15:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14231100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Finn goes on a mission to rescue workers subjugated by the First Order.





	Hero (Finn Appreciation Week - Day 5)

One of the six major weapon factories of the First Order was located on the impoverished Clathar system. The workers there looked as miserable as the miners Finn remembered from Pressy's Tumble. Ragged clothing, bodies aching and eyes shining with hunger. The First Order had increased their working hours and reduced their wages to recoup the loss of their ships and troops against the Resistance. Finn imagined the workers would have soon rebelled against the First Order by themselves, without the Resistance's intervention. And they would have failed and all gotten themselves killed.

But that wasn't what was going to happen, because the Resistance was going to help these workers.

Finn and Poe had infiltrated the factory by sneaking on board of a cargo ship. The local Resistance leader, Rasha, a tall Togruta with crimson skin and a roguish smile, had greeted them at the foundry after he opened the raw plasteel container he and Poe were hiding in. He had led them to the dormitories where they had put on the grey, worn out jumpsuits of the factory workers. The explosives they had received weeks earlier were stored somewhere else, Rasha explained when the three of them headed out of the locker room. Poe and Rasha walked in front of Finn, talking in a low voice to check that they were both up to date with the plan. Finn listened at the same time as he took in the narrow hallway, with large pipes running along the ceiling, the grating beneath his feet, the dim red lights and the suffocating heat permeating the whole factory, or so it seemed.

He froze before a drawing on the durasteel wall, framed by two vertical pipes.  
It was his own portrait. Stenciled in white against the dark red of the wall. Only a few traits, but reproduced faithfully. His expression was serious; brow furrowed, jaw clenched. Below his face, a single words in capitals.

RESIST

He wasn't expecting to see himself represented like that. As a symbol. Sure, he was a member of the Resistance now, but he couldn't see himself as a face of the Resistance. If someone's face had to be chosen to embody the spirit of the Resistance, it was General Organa.

He felt Poe's hand on his shoulder and turned his head away from his portrait.

"Pretty cool, yeah?" Poe asked. He was beaming.

'Why me?" Finn replied.

"Poe told me stories about you", Rasha intervened. "And I told these stories to my brothers and sisters living here. The story of the Stormtrooper who grew up in the First Order, but who listened to his heart when it told him what the Order was doing was wrong? Who rebelled and was instrumental to the destruction of Starkiller Base? It was very inspiring to them."

"See, Finn, that's what we've been saying. You're a hero," Poe added.

The Resistance members on D'Qar had all wanted to meet him and thank him for his help against the First Order, after he woke up. He had always been deflecting the praise. He felt he didn't deserve it. The help he gave them, it was a way for him to rescue his friend. He wasn't as righteous and brave as they all believed him to be.

And now on the other side of the Galaxy, people believed him to be a hero, as well. As their icon, their model. 

Finn took a deep breath. People counted on him, looked up to him. It was a burden, a weight on his shoulders. 

But if it was in any way helpful to the Resistance, helpful to the factory workers or to anyone hearing his story and being inspired, he was going to carry that burden.

He looked one last time at his own face on the wall. Maybe he would never become the man on that wall. But he could try to get a little closer to him. He turned back to Poe and Rasha.

"Let's blow this place up and get your people home," Finn said.


End file.
